Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) versus Carter Bankshares (NASDAQ:CARE) Critical Contrast

Carter Bankshares (NASDAQ:CARE) and Chesapeake Financial Shares (OTCMKTS:CPKF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Carter Bankshares has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Financial Shares has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Carter Bankshares and Chesapeake Financial Shares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Carter Bankshares	$126.13 million	3.14	$23.19 million	$0.57	30.21
Chesapeake Financial Shares	$82.72 million	1.08	$10.12 million	$1.95	9.74

Carter Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Chesapeake Financial Shares. Chesapeake Financial Shares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carter Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.5% of Carter Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Carter Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.5% of Chesapeake Financial Shares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Carter Bankshares and Chesapeake Financial Shares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carter Bankshares	5.41%	4.09%	0.32%
Chesapeake Financial Shares	10.11%	9.35%	0.62%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Carter Bankshares and Chesapeake Financial Shares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Carter Bankshares	0	0	1	0	3.00
Chesapeake Financial Shares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Carter Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.95%. Given Carter Bankshares’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Carter Bankshares is more favorable than Chesapeake Financial Shares.

Summary

Carter Bankshares beats Chesapeake Financial Shares on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Carter Bankshares

Carter Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Carter Bank & Trust that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, retirement, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also offers commercial loans comprising secured and unsecured loans; consumer loans, such as secured and unsecured loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education, overdraft protection, and personal investments, as well as residential mortgages; real estate construction, acquisition, commercial, and industrial loans; home equity lines of credit; and credit cards, as well as originates and holds fixed and variable rate mortgage loans. In addition, it provides other banking services that include safe deposit boxes, direct deposit of payroll, and social security checks; online banking products, including online and mobile banking, online account opening, bill pay, e-statement, mobile deposit, digital wallet, and ATM services; title insurance and other financial institution-related products and services; and treasury and corporate cash management services. Carter Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Martinsville, Virginia.

About Chesapeake Financial Shares

Chesapeake Financial Shares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Chesapeake Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts interest and noninterest checking, savings, and money market accounts; and variable-rate and fixed-term money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers mortgage, and single-family residential and residential construction loans; commercial loans, which include owner-occupied commercial development, retail, builders/contractors, medical, service and professional, hospitality, nonprofits, marine industry, and agricultural and seafood loans; and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company provides merchant processing, accounts receivable financing, wealth management and trust, and mortgage banking services, as well as cash management services. The company was founded in 1900 and is based in Kilmarnock, Virginia.